Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEHLS. Mr. Speaker, let's be clear. We are here today because Joe Biden opened his mouth.

When Joe Biden took office, he had to do nothing. He had to do nothing to secure our southern border. All he had to do was keep President Trump's policies in place. Instead, he halted the construction of the Trump border wall and left over 150 miles of planned border wall unbuilt.

As I stand here today, materials are lying at our border, they are lying on the ground, and they are rusting in the sun as hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens wait to flood into our country.

To date, Mr. Speaker, over 5 million illegal aliens have invaded our border, and an additional 1.5 million of them, the bad hombres, have evaded capture since Joe Biden took over.

This historic legislation restores Trump-era immigration policies that prioritize the safety of the American people, take away the incentives that the Biden administration created to encourage illegal aliens to enter our country, defend our brave Border Patrol agents, and, of course, reform the asylum process.

H.R. 2 criminalizes those who overstay their visas, stops the abuse of parole authority to bypass immigration law, and helps employers to ensure that the workers they are hiring are legal and authorized to work in the United States.

It is past time we restored law and order at our southern border. We cannot continue to allow illegal aliens to infiltrate our country, kill American citizens, rob hardworking Americans of healthcare and other services, increase housing costs, crowd our Nation's public schools, and create a country filled with chaos.

Mr. Speaker, if you think the homeless problem is bad now, just wait. The Biden administration has failed to prioritize the safety of our country, our families, our livelihoods, and our children's future.

House Republicans are committed to securing the border and ending the national security crisis that the Joe Biden administration has created and ignored.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation. Let's take back control of our southern border and restore the rule of law.

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